Royal Military College of Canada

In l874, the Canadian Parliament passed an Act providing for the establishment of an institution "for the purpose of imparting a complete education in all branches of military tactics, fortification, engineering, and general scientific knowledge in subjects connected with and necessary to a thorough knowledge of the military profession, to be known as the Military College, and to be located in some one of the garrison towns of Canada." Kingston, with its historical, military, and naval associations, was selected as the site of the proposed college. On l June l876, the Military College of Canada opened its doors to a class of eighteen gentlemen cadets, "The Old Eighteen." Two years later, in l878, Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, granted the College the right to use the prefix "Royal."